Former President Donald Trump renews attention on his long history of turning a blind eye to bigotry after dining with a white nationalist, Holocaust denial, and rapper formerly known as Kanye West Just days after his third campaign for the White House.
Trump dined Tuesday (November 22) at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to launch anti-Semitism and white nationalism. rhetoric.
Yi, who says he's running for president in 2024, has made a string of anti-Semitic comments in recent weeks, which have led to him being suspended from social media platforms, being banished from his talent agency and severing ties such as Adidas with him. The sportswear manufacturer has also launched an investigation into his behaviour.
In a statement released by the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Bigotry, hatred, and anti-Semitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-Lago. Holocaust denial is abhorrent and dangerous, and must be vigorously condemned.”
Trump, in a series of statements on Friday, said he "never met nor knew anything about" Fuentes before he and Ye arrived at his club. But Trump also did not recognize Fuentes long history of racist and anti-Semitic statements, and he did not denounce the two men's defamatory statements.
Trump wrote about Ye on his social media platform, saying, "We got along great, he didn't express antisemitism, and I appreciate all the nice things he said about me in 'Tucker Carlson.'" And he added, “Why not? I agree to meet?”
The former president has a long history of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 campaign, Trump wondered when request to denounce KKK after the group's former leader endorsed him, saying in a televised interview that he "knew nothing about David Duke". In 2017, in the aftermath Deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump was widely criticized for saying there was "blame on both sides" for the violence. His rallies are often marked by inflammatory rhetoric from figures such as the US Representative. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA, who spoke earlier this year at a far-right conference organized by Fuentes.
The latest episode, which came just a week after Trump launched his third run for the GOP nomination, also highlighted how loosely controlled access to the former president, in particular, was. Without a traditional campaign process in place.
Trump's Mar-a-Lago club has come under intense scrutiny amid revelations of Trump's existence Store hundreds of confidentially marked documents There - sparking a federal investigation. But the club — and the people it gave access to Trump — have long been a source of consternation among former White House aides.
Mar-a-Lago is not only Trump's home, but also a private club and event space. The paid members and their guests dine alongside him and often mix with him; Members of the public can book weddings, fundraisers, and other events, and Trump often drops by.
Ye first shared details of the dinner in a video he posted on his Twitter account on Thursday. Yee said he had flown to Florida to ask Trump to be his running mate for 2024, and that the meeting had grown heated, with Trump "upset" at his request and Yee angered by Trump's criticism of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
“When Trump starts yelling at me at the table and telling me I'm going to lose. I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history, tell Ye I'm going to lose?” she asked in the video. "You are talking to Ye!"
Yee also said Trump "really liked Nick Fuentes," whom he called "a real loyalist" and said he asked Trump, "Why when you had the chance and didn't liberate the January 6th followers?" referring to the defendants who allegedly participated in the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on January 3. 6, 2021.
On Friday, Trump issued a series of statements in an attempt to explain the circumstances of the meeting.
"Kanye West desperately wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. The dinner meeting was intended to be just Kanye and me, but he arrived with a guest I'd never met before and didn't know about," Trump said in his first statement released by his campaign.
Soon after, Trump took to his social network to say that Ye and "three of his friends, about whom I knew nothing," had "appeared unexpectedly" at his club.
“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with several of the members in the backyard. Dinner was quick and quiet. Then they left for the airport.”
Hours later, he sent again, saying he had told Yi that he "definitely shouldn't be running for president," and that "any electors you may have should vote for Trump."
"Anyway, we got along great, he didn't express anti-Semitism, and I appreciated all the nice things he said about me in 'Tucker Carlson.'" "Why don't I agree to meet?" I also didn't know Nick Fuentes."
Meanwhile, Fuentes said after the trip that while he did not rule out that Trump had heard of it, "I don't think he knew I was at dinner."
"I did not intend for my statements and my entire background to become a public relations problem for the president," he added on his show.
The meeting drew immediate criticism from Trump's critics as well as some supporters, including David Friedman, who served as Trump's ambassador to Israel.
“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an anti-Semite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” Friedman wrote in a tweet. "I urge you to get rid of these vagabonds, disavow them and banish them to the dustbin of history where they belong."
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential 2024 rival, also on Saturday decried anti-Semitism, without directly referring to the diner or the president he served under.
"Anti-Semitism is a cancer," Pompeo wrote, adding, "We stand with the Jewish people in fighting the world's oldest bigotry."
When asked about Trump's vacation dinner meeting in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Biden replied, "You don't want to hear what I think."
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